New Tech Power Couple: IBM Watson and Salesforce Einstein

On Monday, March 6, Salesforce Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff and IBM Chairman, President, and CEO Ginni Rometty announced a global strategic partnership to deliver joint artificial intelligence solutions that will enable companies to make smarter decisions, faster than ever before.(Photo Credit: Jon Simon/Feature Photo Service for IBM)

The newest Silicon Valley partnership is a meeting of minds, so to speak. IBM and Salesforce–the world’s most famous customer relationship management (CRM) software company, announced they are partnering to leverage IBM Watson‘s analytical capabilities with Salesforce’s artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Einstein.

Einstein is the moniker for the artificial intelligence capabilities built into Salesforce products, including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and others. The AI provides Salesforce customers real-time analytics and deep insight into their data. Additionally, the CRM titan recently introduced Einstein Vision, a developer’s platform that lets developers build customized add-ons to Salesforce solutions using Einstein APIs. These solutions can include image recognition within a CRM database and AI-powered apps.

Watson is arguably among IBM’s greatest achievements. It’s a platform comprised of several technologies besides AI; machine learning, data analytics, neural networking, speech recognition and more. It can sift through and analyze a vast amount of data–it’s able to read 800 million pages per second–and can even understand nuances of human language.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty expressed their delight with the partnership in statements in a press release:

“‘Within a few years, every major decision–personal or business–will be made with the help of AI and cognitive technologies,’ said Rometty, chairman, president, and chief executive officer, IBM. ‘This year, we expect Watson will touch one billion people–through everything from oncology and retail, to tax preparation and cars. Now, with today’s announcement, the power of Watson will serve the millions of Salesforce and Einstein customers and developers to provide an unprecedented understanding of customers.’

‘The combination of Einstein and Watson will make businesses smarter and our customers more successful,’ said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, Salesforce. ‘I’m thrilled to form an alliance with IBM–no company’s core values are as close to Salesforce’s as IBM’s. It’s the best of both worlds.’â€